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So excited to say that Brand Studio is now live! I spent last year wondering how I could deliver branding differently in order to help more people. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The problem is that branding takes time...a lot of it...and time costs money. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ BUT in general the people I love working with don’t have a huge branding budget when they also have to invest photography and web (I know, I know...all the mindset stuff is well and good...but I need to listen to my people!) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ So I knew I had to rethink my ideal client (which I didn’t want to do!) OR find a slicker way of working that plays to my strengths.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’m happy to say that after some trial and error, I’ve developed a fast, affordable branding solution that works for both me and my clients but with no compromise on the output. Fresh Leaf Brand Studio is designed to get you set up with a brand identity in a fast and affordable way. It's semi-bespoke because it's a halfway house between bespoke brand identity design and pre-made branding - you get to work hand in hand with a designer (me!) to tailor the end result. It all starts with a gorgeous collection of fonts to choose from...and it may stop there if a simple font only logo is exactly what you need. If you want to add some differentiation though, we can layer on top: ◆ Colour palette ◆ 3rd party graphics ◆ Textures / illustrations ◆ Logo variations & submarks ◆ Marketing collateral design Each element is priced separately so you can Pick & Mix the ones that are most relevant for your business. You can also start small and expand as your business grows. You can read more about this service here or complete my contact form if you'd like to arrange a free discovery call

I should start this post by saying that if you're dealing directly with grief or loss, my heart goes out to you and you are in my thoughts. You must take all the time you need for yourselves and your family - these are difficult times and I hope you can find the strength to weather the storm... I'm seeing that the self employed are falling into two distinct camps right now. Some people are feeling very anxious about lockdown and confused about what they should be doing for their business, whilst others are looking to take action to help their brand come through this stronger on the other side. No matter which camp you're in, please don't let the paralysis overwhelm you. At the moment, any action, even small daily action, is better than standing still and watching from the sidelines. Here are some great things you can be doing in your business right now: 1. Up your social media game I've been working hard over at @freshleafcreative on Insta to post more frequently (at least once or twice a day) and to make active engagement a priority, and it's really helping to keep me connected to my community and build some new relationships. This month I've also been doing a daily photo challenge which is a fun way of staying committed to my goal whilst extending my reach - why not get involved? If you work on building your community now, you'll be front of mind when life gets back to normal. 2. Review your social media strategy Not sure what to post? Many social media managers will be very happy to work with you remotely to conduct a complete review of your social media strategy. Now I'm not an official expert in Instagram but I do have a pretty good handle on it, I also know lots of people who may be able to help in this respect 3. Refresh your branding I know how easy it is to get pulled into client work rather than focusing on the big things in your own business. Have you been meaning to professionalise your brand for a while but never seem to find enough hours in the week? If so, now is the perfect opportunity.There's never been a better time to pause and take stock, and to create a brand that you're proud to shout about. You might want to read about The Fresh Leaf Brand Studio, my new fast and affordable collaborative approach to brand identity design. 4. Sort your website Along the same theme as branding, but investing time in developing your website in a platform such as Wix, Squarespace or (if you're an online shop) Shopify is a brilliant use time to ensure you come out of lockdown stronger than you went in. If this has been on your list for ages and you think now might be the time, I'd love to hear from you as I'm conducting some research for a new service that may help you and I'd love to pick your brains! Email me at lucy@freshleafcreative.co.uk 5. Build your subscriber list Once you have your website up and running, creating a subscriber list is a no brainer. It's an easy thing to implement and will help you market your services more effectively in the future. 6. Create content Once you've got a handle on your brand look and feel and what you should be posting you can go ahead and create content - lots of it. If you're happy to tinker, you can head to Canva to try out your graphics skills or to Unsplash to source some photography that's befitting of your brand. Or, if you want something more personal and tailored to your brand, then drop me a line - I can help create bespoke flat lay photography and social media graphics so you never need to be stuck for content. 7. Have a product shoot If particular, if you're a card designer, jewellery or small gift brand then I'm still shooting! Just because we can’t shoot in person, it doesn’t mean your amazing work shouldn’t be seen. For card designers in particular, we can collaborate on pinterest and I can photograph blank cards or your own designs - or a combination of the two so that you can superimpose your new designs whenever you wish. 8. Create a media kit A media kit is a summary of what you do and for who, and includes details of how people can work with you and your prices. It's stage 1 in the filtering process to rule out people who aren't your 'dream clients' or who don't have the budget to work with you so it saves hours of email tennis. If you'd like help creating a media kit of your own, then complete my contact form and I'll send you my media kit, ha ha! 9. Write blog posts Oh yes. If you've got sorted with a website then create some useful content for your visitors. This is great for SEO (search engine optimisation) and any time you can commit to crafting blog posts now will pay dividends in the future. You can even start by just brainstorming ideas for things you want to write about! Small action is better than no action. As well as writing for your own blog, it's also a great time to do some research and identify 3rd party blogs that you'd like to write a guest article for - Then reach out to them! This ticks lots of boxes in terms of extending your reach, providing content to share on social, enhancing your SEO and raising your profile as an expert in your field. 10.Apply for a grant for funding from your council Did you know that you could be eligible for a grant to help towards the cost of promotion or marketing activity when you’re setting up business? And did you know that this includes the design and build of a website if you want to hire someone (like me) to build if for you…? Yes indeed! I'll be writing another blog post on this soon. 11. Plan your marketing / photography strategy for the year Many of my clients are using this time to plan their next shoot so that when we get the green light to come out of lockdown we can be as efficient with our time as possible. We don't know how long that green-light period will last so I'm trying to be savvy with my time now so can focus on shooting once restrictions are lifted. 12. Explore collaborations Collaborations are such a super way of growing your business. Spend some time brainstorming and researching who you might have synergy with and reach out to them. You might want to spend some time engaging with them on instagram first so you're assured you're on the same page. I have a natural synergy with copywriters, social media and marketing managers and event planners so they'd be great for my own collaborations. 13. New service offerings If you're lucky enough to be in the position where you've got your branding, website and social working like a dream and all of your content and photography planned out, then now is a great time to consider new service offerings or ideas for how you can pivot. I myself am launching a new remote branding offer called Fresh Leaf Brand Studio and will be introducing Photography Mini-sessions (spoiler alert...!) when we're able to shoot again. I'm also tinkering with the idea of working on an online programme for people who'd like some support and guidance whilst creating their own website. It's a perfect time for a brainstorm! So writing this post is my one piece of daily action on my business. What will yours be..?

Marina is a Pilates instructor who contacted me earlier in the year regarding a photoshoot for her brand. A little different to my usual shoots because the main motivation was to have a series of images of celebrating flexibility and core strength. As Marina put it... "you never know when you may suffer an injury so I want a record of my pilates whilst I am at my best" I'd first met Marina whilst photographing for Cobham Pilates, so I knew the space and lighting well. Marina wanted to capture a variety of pilates poses using the equipment such as the Cadillac and Reformer as well as mat work. Luckily Marina had prepared a list in advance so we ticked off as we went to ensure we got everything. On this shoot it was really important to me to ensure that when I was shooting square onto the scene (to the Cadillac for example) that my lines were straight, which lead to a workout for my core as well as Marina's! I left completely in awe of Marina's amazing core strength - she made the pilates moves look effortless and was very happy to repeat poses for me if I felt I needed another chance at a shot. Natural hair and make up on the day ensured Marina was looking and feeling her best If you're a yoga, fitness or pilates instructor on the look out for a personal brand photographer then I'd be delighted to hear from you. Let's have a chat about how I can support your business to shine! Feel free to have a look around my website, complete my contact form - I look forward to hearing from you

THIS was a fun shoot! Rachael contacted me from Hong Kong as she was about to relocate back to Surrey and needed some brand photography in order to relaunch her life coaching business on this side of the world. We met for coffee in Thames Ditton to talk over her Pinterest inspirations and I immediately got the vibe of what Rachael was trying to create with her brand Not only did we get to play with sparklers and balloons in a field, I also got to spend a fab day with a super fun lady! Here's what Rachael said about our day together... LOVE my photos! Working with Lucy has been a dream. She is professional and talented but also very relaxed and just lovely. I was a bit apprehensive about having to pose for photos but she made it fun and laid back so I just had a really good time! She completely got what I was trying to achieve and delivered absolutely on brief. Don’t hesitate. If you're a life coach, it's really important to invest in a good photographer that can help showcase WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU DO. It's even more important when you are selling a service because you're selling YOURSELF and people need to buy into YOU. Good photography can help you to stand out from the crowd and connect you with your target audience by resonating with them. If you're a life coach on the look out for a personal brand photographer then I'd be delighted to hear from you. Let's have a chat about how I can support you and your business to shine! Feel free to have a look around my website, complete my contact form - I look forward to hearing from you That's all for now...here are some of those gorgeous images!

When Claire contacted me about some photography for her yoga business, our conversation struck a chord with me. Claire was still working the day job but busy retraining as a yoga instructor and needed some personal brand photography for her website and social media accounts. I love supporting women towards their dreams of following a second career - it's been life changing for me since leaving the corporate world last March and I am grateful every day for the opportunity to do what I love and work with amazing women like Claire! We shoot initially at a natural light studio space (that also doubles as a yoga studio on some evenings) before heading back to Claire's home for some lifestyle shots. Having a dual location shoot like this really helps with narrative around your brand story and allows for much more variety in your photography. If you're a yoga, fitness or pilates instructor on the look out for a personal brand photographer then I'd be delighted to hear from you. Let's have a chat about how I can support your business to shine! Feel free to have a look around my website, complete my contact form - I look forward to hearing from you That's all for now...here are some of those gorgeous images!

In general, I’d say that women are over self-critical. Couple that with the fact that we’re used to seeing a lot of poorly-lit, badly-composed images of ourselves (that don’t reflect what everyone else sees on a daily basis) and it’s a wonder that anyone ever builds up the courage to step in front of the camera at all… When a few of my photographer friends suggested a shoot swap, I was well up for it. Not only did I need piccies of myself, but I also wanted to see how it feels to be in my client’s shoes! I like to think I'm empathetic and in tune with how people are feeling and I can usually sense if someone is uncomfortable even before it registers on their face (so I know when to step in with prompts, direction or chitter chatter to help people relax), but being behind the camera, I could never COMPLETELY understand how it felt to be on the other side of the lens… So here’s what I discovered from my two sessions in front of the camera! Everyone has hang-ups about their appearance but they’re bigger in your head than in reality I have my fair old share just like everyone else - my nose, teeth and neck have been particular bug bears over the years! But you know what, it’s me! And it’s about time we were all a little kinder to ourselves. And you know what else? A good branding photographer will subconsciously be aware of the things you’re self-conscious about and can pick their angles well to show you at your best. It’s a confidence boost Knowing our hang-ups are not as bad as we fear is a huge confidence boost. I’ve had clients phone me in tears after viewing their images - they had been so nervous about seeing themselves and hadn’t expected to LOVE them! In fact, they’d convinced themselves that they’d never be able to like (let alone love) a photo with them in it. When you love your images it’s a huge confidence boost, and it’s one of the reasons I love what I do so much because it helps to shift those self-perceptions which can become warped over the years It’s not vain or self absorbed If you’re anything like me, stepping in front of the camera for my business was the first time since getting married. But it’s no longer only big life events such as getting married or having a family that justify bringing in the pros, nor is it a a vanity project to want great images of yourself. In fact you DESERVE to show yourself and your business in the most professional light that you can and, more importantly, your customers will be EXPECTING just that. It’s empowering As soon as I’d done it once, I really wanted to do it again! It does feel a little weird at first to be in front of the camera getting pap’d, but it doesn’t take as long to relax as I thought it would and it’s nice to get out there and do something so positive for your business. Now I feel excited that I have a selection of images of me to share on my feed and on my website. It’s important to find the right person to capture you Luckily, both of my shoots were with people I felt at ease with which meant I was relaxed. But I do think this is a crucial element to consider when finding the right photographer - you do need to get on and have a good rapport. It’s one of the reasons I will always try to met my clients face-to-face in advance of our session. It helps to plan Having an idea of the kind of shots that you’d find most useful means that you can utilise the time with your brand photographer most effectively and be rewarded with lots of content to drip feed over the year. Collaborating with your photographer on Pinterest before the shoot will mean you find the perfect location and styling for your brand. I hope that's been helpful If you're on the scout for someone to capture your own brand in a light and airy way then I could be the girl for you and I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to learn more about working with me or fill out my contact form and I'll be in touch #PersonalBranding #PersonalBrandPhotography #SurreyBrandPhotographer

We're all familiar with what a headshot is but the term 'personal brand photography' is a relatively new in the scheme of things. Lots of my clients stumble upon my work on Google or Instagram whilst looking for a photographer who can provide a lifestyle take on their business imagery, and many of them aren't aware at that stage that personal branding is even a thing...so what exactly does it mean and do you need to invest? Personal branding photography is the creation of a collection of images that communicates your brand personality to your target audience. It seeks to establish you as an expert within your field. It's about capturing the story of your brand - the details, the essence of what makes you tick and and all of the little things that makes your brand...well...your brand. Adding your personality into the mix and creating this differentiation will help you stand out from the crowd. Show them who you are and what you do When your brand exudes a clear, consistent, professional image, you will find it much easier to connect with your dream clients and customers. Relaying all of this via visual storytelling is what personal branding photography is about. This is quite different to the traditional 'headshot', which will usually be a portrait head and shoulders image of you smiling to camera and will seek to portray you as professional/approachable/creative/knowledgeable/warm/serious (delete as applicable depending on your business!) So how do you know if you need something more than a headshot...? Read on to find out... You are the figurehead of your brand or you own a lifestyle brand You're a freelancer, sole trader or running your own business and you (and your team) are at the helm. It's no longer an option to hide away behind the scenes of your business - people want to see and connect with the person that they're dealing with. Connections build trust, and trust builds consumer loyalty. Your business is growing OR you want to start off on the right foot Whether you're established and looking to add polish or a newbie nurturing a seed of an idea, investing in decent photography is an enabler for so many things - it will help you to grow your social media, market yourself and create compelling print collateral. If you’re in the newbie camp, then personal brand photography will help you to look the part. The old saying is true, you have to ’fake it till you make it'! Sometimes taking small steps towards your goals is the biggest thing you can do to grow. You have a creative process You put so much passion and energy into your work that it's only right that you should share it with the world. Is there any better way of demonstrating the value that you add than by visually spelling it out for people? Sometimes you need to sit back and let your photographs do the talking You are client facing People want to see who they're going to be working with and what they can expect when they arrive to meet you. Now, what this looks like photographically will completely depend upon your business - it's the reason why I tailor every session individually for the client involved. You are active on social media (or want to be) It's no longer enough to keep repurposing that one headshot image from 2 years back because it's all you've got. Not only will professional images help set you apart in your field, but showing people that you're serious about your business and are willing to invest in it speaks volumes. It builds trust. It's hard to build a social feed with only headshots because it can feel a bit formal - people want to see you and what goes on in your business. It's all about the little details and the storytelling. You are building a multipage website Ever tried to build a website with just headshots? Let me tell you right now...it's pretty darn hard and I can promise you that you'll more than likely end up searching for on-brand stock photography (which, by the way, is a nightmare). This is where my storytelling approach to personal brand photography really comes into it's own. I hope this has given you a little food for thought - if one of more of the above apply to you then I have no doubt that you'd benefit from personal brand photography! If you're interested in your own shoot then I'd love to hear from you and you can complete my form to contact me and I'll be in touch to hear all about your business. I have packages to suit all budgets and I'm now taking bookings for June & July onwards. If you're new around here, please feel free to have a look around and learn more about my photography, brand identity design or website services #PersonalBranding #PersonalBrandPhotography #SurreyBrandPhotographer #Cobham

Wondering where your personal branding photoshoot should take place? It doesn't need to be complicated - sometimes the most simple locations work the best! These are some of my go-to locations when planning my personal branding shoots with my clients Your workspace Whether you are a coach, artist, blogger or creative, there will be somewhere that you get your best work done. This may be a coaching room, your treatment room, your kitchen, your office (or dining room table) or your studio space. So long as the area has good natural light, I'll be keen to capture some photographs of you in your natural environment. If the area is dark or not 'insta-worthy', then fear not!! We'll think creatively about locations to come up with a solution :) Here you can see the talented Jo from Toasted Crumpet at work at her dining room table on new artwork for a card range... A local coffee shop Often the place where client meetings and catch ups take place - coffee shops are perfect for personal branding shoots because they give a lovely relaxed feel to the images. Coffee shops are also my favourite place to capture 'remote working' images. It's always necessary to ask permission in advance when you are shooting in public places so there are no surprises on the day of the shoot. I also like shooting in restaurants, which invariably don't open until lunchtime service so there will be less people milling around (a good option if you're feeling a little camera shy) Most businesses will be more than happy to support their local brands and photographers in allowing us to shoot with them, and just ask to be tagged in the resulting images on social media. Happy days! Here's Vicci of Victoria Albury Health Coaching meeting with a client at Garsons cafe restaurant in Esher And this is me, working from Bonjour cafe in Poundbury in half term... The great outdoors Nothing more needs to be said - the great outdoors offers so much variety in terms of stunning, seasonal backdrops that we'll be spoilt for choice. We'll talk about the style of images you're after in order to find the best outdoor location for your personal branding photoshoot. The photos below are of Louise of Soulfully Coaching who wanted some images of out of doors since she often works in the fresh air. Think differently Don't worry if you're stuck for ideas of somewhere suitable to shoot, as I can help unpick your inspirations. Sometimes we need to think differently to get the shots you need - such as below where we shot in Turner & Foye Kitchen showroom to create the illusion of a kitchen environment. If you're still stuck, I even offer a location scouting service! I hope this has given you some food for thought If you're interested in having your own personal brand photoshoot then you might want to take a look at my portfolio or find out more about my personal branding services Maybe you're ready to drop me a line? If so you can complete my contact form or take the old school approach by emailing me at lucy@freshleafcreative.co.uk #PersonalBrandPhotography #SurreyBrandPhotographer #PersonalBranding

If you are a small business, coach, blogger, creative or maker where YOU are the figurehead of your brand, then you'll understand that bringing your personality into your business can be a game changer in terms of driving your business forward. People want to see the person behind the brand. They want to understand your 'WHY' and to share in your journey...and luckily I can help to tell your story and sprinkle your online presence with personality :) Showcase the variety Showing your face to the world is a great start, but depending on the nature of your business, you may be very active on social media and benefit from more seasonal updates - this may be to simply refresh your photography for new collections you are releasing. Or maybe to show your brand through Spring/Summer & Autumn/Winter so that your social content is always fresh & relevant for your followers. As a business owner you will also wear many different hats on a daily basis as you go about your work. and have lots of different aspects to your personal & family life that you may wish to bring to the fore. Because of this, some of my personal branding clients like to work with me 2-3 times a year to update their brand photography so that their social feeds and website are kept fresh with beautiful imagery that is sympathetic to their brand. Consistency & support I love working with clients with whom I can create a long term relationship - I don't need to tell you that consistency in photography is really important for your brand look & feel and you can treat me as an extension of your team to draw upon as and when you need. Just imagine how much time you would save in content creation by having a plentiful supply of images at your fingertips If you haven't yet captured your unique brand story and would like some more information about my services and how I can help your business then you might like to read more about my personal brand photography. . Alternatively if you're ready to talk then feel free to get in touch, I'd be delighted to hear from you. I offer personal brand photography sessions across Surrey, Dorset & SW London. Locations that are farther afield are possible but will incur travel expenses. #PersonalBrandPhotography #SurreyBrandPhotographer #PersonalBranding #Branding